Statistics Canada found (Q2 2025) that 46.4% of businesses under labour pressure said management would need to work more hours to compensate. Not new hires. Not contractors. Management.

That number doesn't show up in a fundraising deck. But every CIO, CTO, and CFO in a growth-stage company knows exactly what it means.

And it's happening at the same time the risk environment is getting harder to ignore. The Bank of Canada found that only 8% of businesses reported significant AI use in operations, even as adoption intent climbs.

The honest version of that story: a lot of growth-stage companies are more exposed than they look. Not because the leaders don't know it. Because there's no good room to talk about it.

That's what we're building on April 23.

Scale & Secure is a curated peer table for CIOs, CTOs, and CFOs at growing companies in professional services, fintech, legal-facing solutions, and private healthcare. The people dealing with IT complexity, hiring pressure, security posture, and market expansion, at the same time.

Not a panel. Not a keynote. A smaller table where the actual questions get asked.

How do you scale security without overspending? How do you stay agile without creating headcount drag? How do you make tech decisions when you're also managing compliance, hiring, and board expectations?

We're hosting it with Thrive NextGen, a firm that works with growth companies and PE-backed businesses on cybersecurity, cloud, IT maturity, and AI governance. 2,500+ customers. 900+ technical certifications. They've been in the room when buyers, lenders, and insurers start asking harder questions. They know what breaks and what holds.

Small table. No audience. Apply if you're in it right now.

Last week, Chexy closed a $14M Series A led by Khosla Ventures, the firm behind OpenAI, Stripe, and DoorDash.

The round also brought back returning investors including Crossbeam, Venrex, and Air Canada, which partnered with Chexy for its Aeroplan program.

They started by helping tenants earn credit card points on rent. Now they're processing over $1B in annualized payments, with $2B in sight next month, and expanding into SMB payments, payroll, business taxes, vendor payments.

Over 200,000 users have earned more than $35M in rewards and cash back since launch. Canadian-built, Canadian-controlled. Full stop.

Liza Akhvledziani Carew, Co-Founder & CEO at Chexy, is speaking at our Best Of event on April 13.

Melissa Gallagher (Co-Founder & CEO, Alma Care) built Canada's first holistic in-home postnatal care platform because the support wasn't there when she needed it. Now the traction is catching up to the vision.

Twig Fertility connects graduating patients to Alma's 130+ postnatal specialists and a $200 care credit, extending support beyond where most fertility clinics stop.

Ada brought Alma in after 34 team members welcomed new babies in a single year, turning postpartum support into a real workplace benefit.

To date, Alma reports a 100% attestation approval rate for Carrot Fertility families going through its postnatal care benefit. Employers are starting to cover it. The infrastructure is being built.

Melissa spoke at our Together Toronto stage last October. Watch her tell the full story.

If you're building cross-border and need to cover the real costs of going international, trade events, market research, legal fees, IP protection, this is the program.

Covers 50% of eligible costs up to $50K. Open to SMEs with 3-500 employees and $300K–$100M in annual revenue.

The window closes at noon ET on May 29.

7 open roles at Baseline. Hiring event is today!

Baseline started as a real estate private lending company. They couldn't find software that worked, so they built it. Then other lenders wanted it. So they exited the lending business entirely and went all-in on the software.

Today, their customer base spans private lenders across Canada and the US, replacing spreadsheets and disconnected tools with one platform that handles origination, servicing, borrower workflows, and capital operations end to end.

Today. 7 open roles. Doors open at 4pm at 507 King Street East. Show up, meet the team, skip the screening call.

In 2025, Startup Open House hosted by TechTO, brought 2,500+ people through the doors of 100+ Toronto startups in a single day. Baseline was one of those companies. They met candidates face-to-face and hired someone they wouldn't have found any other way.

So they're doing it again. Today.

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